ZTE Merit – Another Android Phone for Straight Talk and Net10

by pbushx2 on May 31, 2012

Straight Talk and Net10 have introduced yet another new Android phone, and this one adds another little wrinkle to the mix. The ZTE Merit 990g phone is the first Straight Talk- and Net10-branded phone to use the AT&T network. The “bring your own phone” plans from both carriers already offered customers the option of using AT&T’s network, but this is the first AT&T-based phone that is officially branded as Straight Talk or Net10.

I’m not too familiar with the ZTE brand name, as I have never owned one of their phones before and in fact have only even heard of it a few times prior to learning about the Merit. The company seems to specialize in lower-end phones, especially those to be branded by prepaid providers.

The price tag on this one is $129.99, from both Straight Talk and Net10. As always with Android devices on these carriers, you’ll need to use the “unlimited” monthly plan for the ZTE Merit with either Straight Talk ($45 per month for unlimited) or Net10 ($50 monthly, or $45 if you enroll in auto-renew in your online account management at Net10.com).

The specs aren’t overwhelmingly positive on this one – the 600mhz processor in particular jumps out at me as an unappealing stat. Aside from that, here’s a brief rundown on what to expect from this phone:

3.5” touch screen

5 MP camera w/video

GPS

3G & Wi-Fi

Gravity Sensor/Tilt and Shake

2 GB microSD card included, upgradable to 32GB

I will be trying this one as well, as I think it will be a very interesting comparison to the Samsung Galaxy Proclaim that I’ve been working with for the last week or so. In particular, I’m interested in running some benchmarking tests on each phone, which will provide an interesting comparison of the speed of each phone.

Another thing I plan to test is whether I can activate the ZTE phone, then switch the SIM to a different phone I had previously used with the “Bring-your-own-phone” plan. I’m assuming this should work, but I think it is less likely that the reverse will be true – that you’d be able to use the Merit on a different plan without some kind of modification first.

In the next day or two I’ll be setting up yet another site to host my review of the ZTE Merit. Once I get that up, along with an introductory video and a bunch of pictures, I’ll post about it here along with a link to the review site. Until then, you can check out more details about this phone at either Net10 or Straight Talk using the links below: